Florida-based rapper Wifisfuneral, whose real name is Isaiah Rivera, is like a lot of contemporary hip-hop artists. He’s obsessed with viral success and the ways that the internet can amplify and distort fame and connections. He’s way into video games. He’s got face tattoos (one is of a wifi icon). He got his start on SoundCloud. And he’s got a history of substance abuse, with references to pills, cocaine, cough syrup and weed flowing through his music as steady as the crisp beats and dizzy background tracks.
Wifisfuneral got his big boost when Earl Sweatshirt became a fan. Wifisfuneral’s latest release, “Ethernet,” demonstrates the rapper’s taste, dexterous phrasing and steady lining-up of syllables. He opts for confident rhythmic patterns instead of warped effects-drenched weirdness. His father was a rapper, so Wifi has been writing verses since he was a 9-year-old.
“Juveniles,” the last track on his new record, sounds retro in a self-conscious fashion. Like many rappers who have exploded from the fringes into the streaming-music spotlight, his experiences — drug-dealing, getting kicked out of his house, being broke and generally struggling — are all pretty fresh and they inform Wifi’s rapping with an element of real hardship and danger.
Wifisfuneral performs at Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven, on Thursday, Sept. 20, at 9 p.m. Tickets are $25-$30. toadsplace.com, 203-624-8623.
